(Yicai Global) Dec. 6 -- Chinese banks have upped the amount they make available to credit cards users, a report released by China's central bank shows.

The country's banks had extended CNY11.91 trillion (USD1.80 trillion) of credit to cardholders as of the end of the third quarter, marking a 9.85-percent increase over the previous quarter. Their outstanding balance was CNY5.17 trillion, up 10.25 percent, per a document the People's Bank of China released yesterday.

CNY66.271 billion of non-performing credit card loans were six months overdue, representing a 1.85-percent rise from the previous quarter and accounting for 1.36 percent of outstanding credit card balances -- 0.11 percentage point less than in the second quarter.

The number of cards in use in China went up 8.35 percent annually and 2.69 percent quarterly to 6.518 billion in the third quarter. The number of bank cards held per capita in the country was 4.71, compared with 4.59 in the second quarter.

Non-bank payment agencies handled 1.08 trillion online payment transactions in the third quarter, an increase of 76.78 percent over the same period of last year. Their worth was CNY38.98 trillion, up 47.99 percent.

Some 15 national commercial banks and nine payment institutions had connected to China's unified payment and settlement platform by the end of the third quarter. The country moved online payment transactions initiated by payment agencies related to bank accounts from direct bank channels to that system.